Matthew Quirk might be the most underrated political thriller novelist working today. Known for his Mike Ford and, more recently, his John Hayes books, Quirk, a New York Times bestseller, is now gearing up to launch his first book in more than a year, when The Night Agenthits bookstores on January 15, 2019.

Back in February, we reported that Quick signed a two-book deal with William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. At the time, Quirk told us in an exclusive statement that it’s “such an honor to have the opportunity to work with David [Highfill], who has guided so many authors and books I love—Don Winslow, Greg Iles, Elmore Leonard, the list goes on—and the incredible team at William Morrow. The Night Agent is bigger and riskier than anything I’ve ever done, and I can’t wait to get it into readers’ hands.”

David Highfill, mentioned above, is the VP/executive editor for William Morrow,and one of the most respected and experienced editors in publishing, especially within this genre.

It’s unclear whether Quirk, who studied history and literature at Harvard before reporting on crime, private military contractors, terrorism prosecutions, and international gangs for The Atlantic, intends for The Night Agentto be the first book in a new series or a standalone thriller, but the book will star a young FBI agent named Peter Sutherland who goes on the hunt to uncover a Russian mole inside the White House. Check out the plot details below!

To find a Russian mole in the White House, an FBI agent must question everything. . . and trust no one

To save America from a catastrophic betrayal, an idealistic young FBI agent must stop a Russian mole in the White House in this exhilarating political thriller reminiscent of the early novels of John Grisham and David Baldacci.

No one was more surprised than FBI Agent Peter Sutherland when he’s tapped to work in the White House Situation Room. From his earliest days as a surveillance specialist, Peter has scrupulously done everything by the book, hoping his record will help him escape the taint of his past. When Peter was a boy, his father, a section chief in FBI counterintelligence, was suspected of selling secrets to the Russians—a catastrophic breach that had cost him his career, his reputation, and eventually his life.

Peter knows intimately how one broken rule can cost lives. Nowhere is he more vigilant than in this room, the sanctum of America’s secrets. Staffing the night action desk, his job is monitoring an emergency line for a call that has not—and might never—come.

Until tonight.

At 1:05 a.m. the phone rings. A terrified young woman named Rose tells Peter that her aunt and uncle have just been murdered and that the killer is still in the house with her. Before their deaths, they gave her this phone number with urgent instructions: “Tell them OSPREY was right. It’s happening. . . “

The call thrusts Peter into the heart of a conspiracy years in the making, involving a Russian mole at the highest levels of the government. Anyone in the White House could be the traitor. Anyone could be corrupted. To save the nation, Peter must take the rules into his own hands and do the right thing, no matter the cost. He plunges into a desperate hunt for the traitor—a treacherous odyssey that pits him and Rose against some of Russia’s most skilled and ruthless operatives and the full force of the FBI itself.

Peter knows that the wider a secret is broadcast, the more dangerous it gets for the people at the center. With the fate of the country on the line, he and Rose must evade seasoned assassins and maneuver past jolting betrayals to find the shocking truth—and stop the threat from inside before it’s too late.

Check back for more updates soon, as we’ll have plenty of coverage (including a cover reveal) for The Night Agent, currently available for pre-order here, leading up to its highly-anticipated release. In the meantime, make sure you’re following Matthew Quirk on Twitter and Facebook and, if you haven’t already, sign up for his official newsletter to be eligible for free prizes and giveaways.

Praised as “one of today’s finest book reviewers” by New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds, Ryan Steck (“The Godfather of the thriller genre” — Ben Coes) has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.

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2 comments

Matthew Quirk’s “Cold Barrel Zero” is one of my all time favorites. The John Hayes and Thomas Bryne characters created by Quirk keep you guessing right from the start. It’s a 2 book series, so far. I hope the author brings more of John Hayes in the future.